


Something Bugging You?

by lieutenantaclassi



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, not really shippy but interpret as you wish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 00:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9795098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lieutenantaclassi/pseuds/lieutenantaclassi
Summary: Having a tent out in nature meant that nature would find a way into the tent, too. Monsters worse than daemons, at least if you asked Prompto and Noctis.Bugs.And they really hated bugs.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was born out of Noctis' and Prompto's dislike of bugs (I feel them so much).
> 
> (Story takes place sometime slightly before picking up Iris and going to Cape Caem)

Camping out wasn’t necessarily Noctis’ favorite activity. In fact, he’d probably put it on a list of his _least_ favorite activities. He simply couldn’t see what was so great about it, unlike Gladio who always seemed to jump at the chance of putting up camp at one of the many havens. Noctis wasn't sure if it was because Gladio loved nature, or if he simply was determined to camp at every damned haven there was. Maybe both.

Sure, Noctis couldn’t deny that nature was pretty, at least at times. Like on the rare occasions when he got up early to help Ignis cook breakfast. And Noctis really did enjoy watching the sunrise, but not nearly as much as he enjoyed sleeping in.

Another enjoyable aspect was when they camped near lakes, allowing Noctis some time to fish and unwind without having the others impatiently waiting for him to finish. If they were camping he could go have his alone time by the lake, and they mostly let him have it. But not all havens were close to water, so fishing was mostly an aspect he couldn't enjoy while they camped.

At least Ignis cooking was something to look forward to. Probably one of his favorites, as long as it didn’t involve vegetables.

But the negatives really did outweigh the positive sides of camping, there was no doubt about it.

It was a hassle lugging around all the camping equipment to the havens. Sometimes they couldn’t get very near with the Regalia, forcing them to walk _miles_. Noctis still remembered the time they had spent about two hours walking from the car to a haven. No trouble for Gladio, apparently, but both Noctis and Prompto had complained most of the walk there. Noctis was even pretty sure that Ignis had thought it was a hassle since he had muttered something about the nearest outpost not being that much further away. They might as well have taken a three hour long car ride instead of a two hour trek through the woods.

Once the equipment and the tent actually was up, it was an issue fitting into it. It had been the worst in the beginning, none of them having been very used to sharing sleeping quarters with each other. Overlooking Prompto and Noctis who had shared beds countless of times, but fitting four adult men into one tent was a bit different than sharing Noctis’ large and _comfortable_ bed.

Comfort was also a problem with camping. Of course they couldn’t lug around proper mattresses, so they had to sleep on very thin ones and it made Noctis’ back ache. He would have related it to his back never making a full recovery since the incident when he was 8, but Prompto also complained about feeling stiff when they camped, so maybe that simply was how things were.

At least it had gotten somewhat better as they all had gotten used to each other’s sleeping habits. Noctis would fall asleep pretty quickly no matter what, and once he was asleep he’d latch onto the nearest source of heat in the tent, and then he’d hardly let go. That had been one major reason why they had decided on permanent sleeping positions in the tent.

Ignis usually slept on the far left. Next to him was Prompto, and next to Prompto was Noctis, crammed in between him and Gladio who was sleeping on the far right.

Ignis was a very light sleeper, and sleeping next to Noctis simply didn’t work out for him. Of course Ignis hadn’t said anything about it, but he got a bit cranky, and the bags underneath his eyes had spoken volumes. So Gladio had switched places with Noctis, but that hadn’t worked for long either since Gladio had a bad habit of throwing out an arm to his side, sometimes smacking Ignis in the face, which had resulted in Gladio and Prompto switching places since Prompto didn't seem to move a lot once he was asleep.

It had taken them _weeks_ to finally find a working sleeping arrangement that got everyone sleep. Prompto was already used to sleeping next to Noctis, and Gladio just briefly woke up when Noctis decided to cling to him during night. He’d usually fall back asleep pretty fast, so he allowed Noctis to more or less wrap his limbs around him.

But the lack of comfort wasn't the only issue. Lack of showers were also something that made camping suck quite a bit. Especially after a long day of fighting, dungeon crawling and just endless _walking_. They’d more often than not go to bed dirty and smelling, unless they were sleeping nearby a source of water. But that wasn’t something they could always count on.

The carrying around of the equipment, the lack of comfort and hygiene were bad.

But it wasn’t the worst thing.

Having a tent out in nature meant that nature would find a way into the tent, too. Monsters worse than daemons, at least if you asked Prompto and Noctis.

 _Bugs_.

Noctis _loathed_ fighting huge killer wasps and monsters like that. They were huge and disgusting, but he was honestly more afraid of small bugs. It was something that he didn’t admit, at least he had tried to keep that front up but it had only lasted about a week until they had camped and been accompanied by a tiny wasp in their tent. He had woken up hearing a slight buzzing around his head. For a moment Noctis had just thought it was Ignis who had put his phone next to Noctis to wake him up, but as the buzzing continued he had opened his eyes. The wasp had been right in front of his face.

Seconds later Noctis had screamed and gotten out of the tent. It had been the first and only time he had been out of the tent first, and they didn’t seem to ever let him live it down. Even Prompto made fun of him for it, a terrible betrayal that Noctis wasn’t sure he would be able to recover from.

Now they had been travelling around for _months_ looking for royal weapons and trying to figure out how to proceed. At least they had gotten the Regalia back after the entire Titan-fiasco, and now they were heading back towards Lestallum to pick up Iris so they’d be able to head to Cape Caem where they _hopefully_ would be able to get onto a boat to Altissia. But of course it had gotten dark, and since no one wanted to drive and risk getting interrupted by Iron Giants or Red Giants, they had set up camp once more, and after a fulfilling meal Prompto and Noctis were sitting in the tent, playing King’s Knight.

“I _really_ hate camping,” Noctis complained as he sat down in the corner of the tent, holding his phone in his hand, “We’ve been camping several days in a row. We’re smelling, it’s uncomfortable and I swear Gladio was trying to strangle me in my sleep yesterday.”

“I am right here,” Gladio said from the other side of the tent, looking up from his book only to glare at Noctis, “Also, if I _wanted_ to strangle you, you’d be dead already so stop whining.”

Noctis rolled his eyes, “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

“I mean, it isn’t _that_ bad,” Prompto looked up from his phone, “Maybe not the most comfortable and uh, yeah, hygiene isn’t the greatest either but… at least we’ve got our sleeping arrangements figured out! And Iggy’s cooking is the best! Man I always look forward to see what new recipes he comes up with!”

“I’m with you about Spec's cooking but still,” Noctis sighed and rubbed his back, “My back is _killing_ me and camping isn’t making it any better.”

“Maybe we should head by Galdin Quay again sometime soon, get you a massage!” Prompto brightly suggested, but it only made Noctis groan and shake his head.

“I’d rather die than let that man touch my back again,” Noctis grimaced at the memories, he hadn’t even lasted a minute, “How does he even have that job?!”

“Aw, was he too rough for his Highness liking?”

“He almost broke my back!”

“Suuure,” Gladio smirked as he looked back into his book, “If you say so.”

Noctis just flipped him off, and he was pretty sure that Gladio could see it out of the corner of his eye. If he did see it, Gladio had obviously decided to be the bigger person and ignore the immature gesture.

“If we had been by a lake I’d have been cool with this though,” Prompto shrugged and looked over at Noctis, “I mean, then we could… we… w-we could…”

“What?” Noctis frowned as he looked at Prompto’s face, he looked absolutely terrified, “What is it? Is there something on my face?”

“N-nothing!” Prompto said but he shuffled backwards, as if he was trying to get away from Noctis, “Nothing at all! Nothing is on your face!”

Gladio groaned and put his book in his lap, obviously not able to concentrate on his reading, “What the hell is going on now?”

“Don’t ask me!” Noctis complained and looked over at Gladio, “He’s staring at me as if I’ve grown a second head or something! ”

"Huh," Gladio raised an eyebrow, “Well you got a bug in your hair… right _there_.”

He reached forward to point out where it was, but it was futile because the very moment Noctis heard the word "bug" in the same sentence as "hair" he started flailing, wildly waving his hands around his face before shaking his head.

“Well, not any longer,” Gladio snorted and glanced up, the bug was flying around in slow lazy circles, “It’s nothing worth getting worked up over.”

“It's a daddy longlegs!” Noctis exclaimed in disgust, not wanting to think about the fact that it had been in his hair just seconds earlier. He shuffled over to the same corner as Prompto, trying to get as far away as possible from the bug, “That’s _disgusting_ and it was in my hair! Prompto, kill it!”

Prompto’s eyes widened as he grabbed a hold on a blanket and pulled it up to cover himself, as if he was going to use it to hide from the bug.

“Dude, no way! I’m not getting near that thing!” Prompto protested, “It isn’t natural to have legs that long! You kill it!”

“Gladio! Do something!” Noctis pleaded as he huddled up next to Prompto, getting in underneath the same blanket as the other, "Anything!"

Gladio stared blankly at the two of them, the book still in his hand. After a while he looked up. He could very easily have smacked the bug with his book, or his hand. After all the tent wasn’t that big, and the bug was definitely within his reach.

Noctis let out a sigh of relief when he saw Gladio move a bit and close his book, as if he was getting prepared to swat it. But his relief turned into terror as Gladio instead used his book to simply swish the bug towards Noctis and Prompto.

“You’re supposed to be my shield!” Noctis desperately tried to pull the blanket over his head, which he managed with Prompto's help since he also wanted to hide, “Your duty is to protect me!, Gladio! This is treason!”

Gladio simply grinned as he watched Noctis and Prompto more or less cling to each other underneath the blanket. They were too easy to mess with at times, and it was just too much fun to torture them.

“Huh? I don’t see your life in danger, princess,” Gladio crossed his arms and looked at the bug which was circling closer to Prompto and Noctis after his kind gesture, “You can take on a killer wasp but not _that_? You’re just a couple of wusses.”

“I’m going to have a heart attack, and it's gonna be on you!” Noctis hissed and dared to peek out from the blanket, only to retreat as he saw Gladio wave his book towards the bug again to make it fly even closer to them, “Gladio! Stop it!”

“Something bugging you, Noct?” he mockingly asked and laughed, "This is how dignified royalty is, huh?"

“Fuck you!”

For a while Gladio simply continued torturing Noctis and Prompto, urging the bug closer to them anytime it was heading Gladio’s way. Seeing them squirm and scream was simply too amusing, and he’d never let them live it down. Especially not Noctis.

After a couple of minutes the tent opened up and Ignis looked in, “What is all this screaming about?”

“S-Specs!” Noctis exclaimed the moment he heard Ignis voice, “Take that monstrosity out of here! _Please_!”

“I am well aware that Gladio can be a handful but calling him a monstrosity is quite uncalled for, Noct. Unless you mean a behemoth, then I can see the similarities but-”

"Not that, Iggy!" Prompto shrieked, "The bug!"

Ignis sighed heavily, of course there was a bug. He should have guessed by Noctis' reaction.

Gladio snorted and pointed up, “There you see what got his Majesty’s panties in a twist.”

“Oh,” Ignis simply said as he looked at it, “That appears to be nothing more than a crane fly.”

“I don’t _care_ what it is, just take it out!” Noctis dared to take a peek out of the blankets again, looking over at Ignis with wide eyes, " _Please_ , Ignis?"

“Just a moment,” Ignis said and disappeared briefly, once he reappeared he had a glass in his hands.

He effortlessly caught the bug in it, covering the opening with his hand.

“It is nothing to be afraid of,” Ignis assured as Noctis and Prompto finally dared to stop hiding underneath the blanket, “See? It can do absolutely no harm. It is most certainly more afraid of you than you are of it.”

Ignis got a bit closer to them, but both Noctis and Prompto just pressed themselves as far back as they could and shook their heads wildly.

“That’s close enough,” Noctis sounded strained as he warily looked at the bug in the glass, “Just… please take it out of here.”

"Utterly hopeless," Ignis shook his head in defeat as he headed back out and let the poor bug fly off into the night. He had definitely lost count of how many times he had saved Noctis from bugs, and how many times he had tried to convince him that there was nothing to be afraid of.

Once he returned to the tent both Prompto and Noctis were still on the opposite side from Gladio, both refusing to get close to the man.

"Come on now," Ignis tiredly said, "Time to go to bed."

"I don't want to sleep next to him," Noctis huffed, "I refuse."

"Tough luck," Gladio snorted, "But you don't have much of a choice."

Before it could escalate into another silly fight Ignis decided to step in. If they went to bed like this the bickering wouldn't stop, and he really wanted to go to bed after spending such a long time on the road.

"Just... Gladio, take my place. I'll sleep next to you, Noctis can be next to me, and Prompto can take your place," he said as he pushed his glasses up, "That's basically the spots you all are sitting on anyway."

"But-,"

"No buts," Ignis sharply said, patience running thin.

At least it was enough to make the others get settled down in the tent, finally allowing Ignis to lie down as well. He was just about to close his eyes when Gladio turned to lie on his side. He could almost feel Gladio's gaze throughout the darkness.

"What?"

"You meant that about comparing me to a behemoth?"

"You are quite a large man, Gladio," Ignis murmured and shifted a bit when Noctis seemed to decide to latch onto him for the night. Perhaps since he so rarely slept next to him these days, "Take it as you wish."

"Well... there's a lot of me that's big," Gladio said and chuckled, "If you get what I mean."

It was dark, but Ignis knew that the other was wiggling his eyebrows.

"Please don't," Prompto pleaded from the other side of the tent, "I do not want to think about that!"

"Can everyone just shut up?" Noctis grumbled, "Talk about Gladio's dick in the morning. I'm  _tired_."

"You're just jealous cause mine's bigger than yours."

Ignis just took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he closed his eyes and tuned out the bickering.

It was going to be a long night.

**Author's Note:**

> Noctis is basically me with bugs. I don't freak out about a lot of things, but if there's a bug near me I'll either run for the hills or scream and hide underneath a blanket. I especially can't stand crane flies even though I know they're harmless.  
> Wish I had Ignis to catch bugs for me, too.


End file.
